Google Uses Name of Startup Huddle -- Again

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A U.K. startup has contacted Google, asking that it stop using the name Huddle for a Google+ group texting application -- for the second time it's used the name in the last five years.

Previously, Google had also used the name for a cloud-based app called "Huddlechat," which Google pulled after it was revealed that the U.K. Huddle, a cloud-based communication software startup, had a similar product, according to GigaOm. While it's unknown if Huddle is attempting to settle the current situation with attorneys, the company had this to say on its blog:

“While the Huddle feature in Google+ appears designed to foster personal collaboration based on relationships and consumers’ interests, the Huddle feature in Google+ is not associated with Huddle, the leader in enterprise cloud collaboration and content management. There have also been suggestions that Google has, in fact, acquired us. There is no basis to such speculation. …The Huddle team has worked hard to build its brand visibility worldwide and maintaining this is extremely important. We have contacted Google about this matter, and our hope and preference, of course, is that this issue reaches a timely and amicable resolution."

Google obviously has a thing for the name Huddle, and whether it changes the name slightly to Google Huddle or fights it in the courts, it's likely to stay that way. Google has billions of dollars behind it, and a startup with $14.2 million in venture capital doesn't really stand a chance against Google if it decides to settle the matter in a court of law.